I generally make this assumption that I live in a Democracy. This assumption is often challenged. Still this blog is my Freedom of Expression. It is my space and it sets my SPIRIT FREE.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Unheard Words, Radical Thoughts - Part 5

I had been really busy for last few days, so couldn't post on the blog. But I was finding sometime daily, mostly while traveling from office to home, to write the story for the day on the words received on our Readers' Club's WhatsApp group.

For the three words covered in this post, I tried to use an alternative literary device in one of the stories. I am not sure what impact it creates, but I felt it right to do so.

Mavourneen

noun [muh-voo r-neen, -vawr-, -vohr-]

darling; dear

Tale: Hero/Villain

"My
beloved! My mavourneen! I hope this letter still carries my fragrance
when you hold it in your hands. It has been months since I went away. I
had no choice. And I know my dear, I promised you that I will write to
you every Sunday. But I never did. Never
could. There was nothing bright to say. Things were gloomy and there
was so much desperation around. After months, today the sun shines
bright and there is no sound of bullets. Today it looks like the war is
ending. When I left Dublin, I had never hurt anyone. But now I am being
hailed as a warrior. I murdered thirty soldiers with my bayonet and
killed many more with my rifle. They are going to reward me on my
return. But to tell you the truth, my dear, I am not proud of this. I
can smell the rotting corpses in my dreams. I hear children wailing too.
As much as I try, muffling my ears, the wails don't stop. I love you
and it is your thoughts that have kept me sane. Hope to see you soon."

She
read this letter hundredth time. She could feel his warmth and smell
his manliness in it. Her tears had dried up, but the letter was damp
with sweat from her palms and tears of all the past occasions when she
read it. He never came back. His decorated coffin returned though. The
second world war had not only taken his life, but also hers.

Deleterious

adjective [del-i-teer-ee-uhs]

harmful; injurious

Tale: Vacuum

Their
marriage was on the rocks. They hadn't talked to each other for days.
Smiles had vanished from their home and both their kids were growing
grumpy. It was difficult to understand what went wrong. They both loved
each other deeply and had well paying
jobs. They were a successful couple in every conceivable way. One day he
came home, shot his wife, strangulated his kids and then jumped off his
50th floor apartment. The deleterious effects of living a purpose less
life had taken its toll on his mental health. For months, now he was
always bothered about the vacuousness of his life, his friend informed
the police.

Potboiler

noun [pot-boi-ler]

a mediocre work of literature or art produced merely for financial gain

Tale: Life of Crime

He
was considered as the most intellectual filmmaker in the noir genre.
His crime thrillers were dark and morbid. Lapped up by the audiences, he
was the toast of the town. Some of his critics mentioned that his films
are so perverse that if he wasn't a
director, he would have made a perfect criminal. They didn't know how
close they were to truth. He was a pickpocket in childhood. After
spending some years in a juvenile home, he came out a hardened criminal.
He started drug trafficking and pimping. But then he came across a
melancholic, beautiful small time actress. They both fell in love. That
transformed him as a person. He studied film-making and nothing stopped
him after that. His life reads like a potboiler. Isn't it?